Marissa Renae, Eight is Great

Last Friday Marissa turned eight years old and boy oh boy did we celebrate!
We didn’t have a fancy party with lots of guests, but we did spend parts of our day with all of our favorite people. We also did every thing the birthday girl requested and we definitely ate WAY too much ice cream.

This was birthday #8…

Here she is 8 years old. Your first official photo of each age has to include fingers as long as you have enough :). I’m pretty sure that’s a rule.

She requested donuts for her birthday breakfast so we hit up our favorite donut shop.

Next she wanted to do some treasure hunting AKA Geo-caching. I think we found about 2 caches before we felt like melting. So we gave up and headed to my parents house for a birthday visit. I failed to take any photos, but I can show you a picture of her with her present. Just imagine this and lots of loud screams.

Marissa found that big Lego set right after Christmas in the clearance aisle and hasn’t stopped talking about it since. Good thing Meme and Papa are planners who bought it right away and stashed it for her birthday. She was SO happy and put together those 1000+ pieces in no time.

We ate a quick-lunch and headed for the pool where we met up with our friends Jonathan and David for a birthday swim. With a real feel of 115 degrees we happily kept cool in the water. It was HOT! Russ was also able to take of work early and join us for the fun.

The birthday girls seemed a tad bit embarrassed when we sang to her, but happily chowed down on ice cream sandwiches. We played at the pool longer than normal and packed up to head home around 4:00.

Once we were home Emily and I managed to wrap up a few presents while sister was distracted building her Lego mall.

For her birthday dinner she requested beef hot dogs and homemade mac & cheese which oddly was the same thing she requested for her 5th birthday. I am pretty shocked by the simplicity of her request but there was no way in the world I, the one who cooks, was going to complain.

Later that night we were ready to party again.

This may be one of the last times we get to hang out with this family for a while since they are moving to CO in just a few weeks. We are so sad that our good friends (aka our family photo photographer) will be gone. We sure are going to miss them.

We made ice cream sundaes and sang to the birthday girl who was once again wearing a bathing suit.
You have to love (or be jealous of) those summer babies.

After we ate it was time to open presents. Presents were a soccer ball, more Legos and a bike from grandma & papa. We put the bike in her room, I hid in there with a camera and when Russ asked her to take a bag to her room this happened.

At first she just stood there completely speechless for at least 15 seconds, then she screamed and then she danced. She REALLY wanted a new bike but didn’t think she was going to get one.

With a belly full of ice cream and one of the busiest, longest day we have had all summer we tucked our eight year old girl into bed and sent her off to dream of Legos, bikes, donuts and whatever else 8-year-old girls dream of.

We are so thankful that she is ours and for the amazing 8 years we’ve had with her.

Who needs a big party when you get to spend your birthday doing all those fun things! I absolutely love that photo of them jumping on the trampoline with the water! And I guess I can no longer say “it was a really hot day”! Holy cow!!! Happy Birthday Marissa!

Exactly! We have never been big party people honestly. Probably because we’re home schoolers and don’t have TONS of friends to invite :P. Trampoline photos are always favorites of mine and yes HELLO humidity. It is crazy friend, just crazy.

OH her face when she saw the bike!! It made me tear up! There’s nothing like seeing your kids’ faces light up when they see something that they love! What an amazing day she had. You guys are such good parents.

SO FUN!!! Man that sounds like the BEST day ever! All that ice cream? Yes, please.
She looks so happy with the Lego set but EVEN MORE SO with the bike! Oh man, she’s having the best year so far being 8!

haha that pic of her bike surprise makes me teary every time I’ve seen it now! It’s just the best. I’ve hidden with the camera to catch Aria’s reaction a time or two. But not in a while, so I should do it again sometime! I love all her requests too…donuts, and mac and cheese. oh gosh that really sounds good. I may need to make mac and cheese tomorrow now haha. I think 8 is going to be a pretty great year for her =)

Aaawwww that is so sweet. I totally happy cried too. She was just SO shocked. I have never seen her speechless like that. You should totally do that again too. SO I heard Mac and cheese day is July 14th I think… you should write that day down now :). I think so too.

What a perfect birthday! I love the pool party with friends, the sprinkler jumping and that you celebrated with everyone you loved. I bet Marissa felt really special. Her new bike face is amazing and she looks so happy in every picture. I have a random question about your dining table… what do you think of the bench? Do you like having a bench and chairs? Do your girls prefer sitting in chairs or on the bench? I’ve been looking at tables and lots of them have bench options so I’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂

I am actually the one who usually sits on the bench. The girls do love it though. I really like having it with our space because it keeps things feeling more open but I am not sure I would love it in every space though. Does that make sense? But as far as functionality I like it a lot.

Sounds like the perfect birthday celebration to me! I love her leopard swimsuit. I love love love her expression when she saw the bike! That is priceless, my friend. Happy 8th sweet Marissa! What a sweet and precious girl.

What a fun post. I just love your girls so seeing them being celebrated is the best. Her dinner is pure perfection. Connor picked pizza for his 3rd birthday and I’m really excited to see what he picks for year 4.

Hello Friends!

I'm Beth. Wife to Russ & Stay at home turned homeschool mom to Marissa & Emily. I love Jesus, my time at the gym and can usually be found behind the lens of my camera. Our life isn't perfect, but it's ours and I wouldn't trade it for the world. We are so glad that you are here and hope you'll stick around.